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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. staff — a stick
  4. cold — an illness
  5. staff — employees
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — not warm
  11. squash — the sport
  12. kid — to tease
  13. tear — to rip
  14. staff — employees
  15. kid — child
  16. bank — for money
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. tear — from crying
  19. degree — an amount
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bank — for money
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bank — of a river

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com